§ 90-48. Rates for collection service.

(a)

Under this division, all rates to be charged by the license holder shall be approved by the board of county commissioners in accordance with this section.

(b)

All rates shall be based upon the reasonable operating expenses and capital requirements that the license holder demonstrates to the county as necessary in the performance of its obligations under the license, plus either a pretax margin (profit) factor not to exceed 14 percent of gross revenues or, if the board of county commissioners performs a study on collection, transport and disposal rates and determines it is in the best interest of the public to eliminate or modify the pretax margin factor, such other profit factor as authorized by resolution of the board of county commissioners.

(c)

The rates as approved by the board of county commissioners will not include any disposal fee component unless the license holder is charged directly for such disposal in the nature of a tipping fee, in which case such disposal fee will be treated as a pass-through cost to the consumer without any profit factor adjustment.

(d)

Each application for approval of rates or rate changes shall be accompanied by the audited financial statements prepared by an independent certified public accountant identifying and segregating all revenues and expenses associated with the performance of the obligations under the license and the expected profit percentage of the license holder.

(e)

The license holder may establish separate rates for different classes of consumers and for different services upon showing that costs of collection and transport of solid waste differ among the classes or services as established by the license holder. Separate rates may also be established for collection and disposal of hazardous waste if such service is provided by the license holder.

(f)

Notwithstanding any subsection of this section, if the board of county commissioners performs a rate study on collection, transport and disposal costs and determines it is in the best interest of the public to establish rates based upon the cost of services as identified by the study, the board of county commissioners may by resolution establish rates for collection services in accordance with the findings of the study in lieu of the rates or rate changes requested by a license holder in any application.

(Code 1970, § 23-52; Ord. No. 89-06, § 12, 2-21-89; Ord. No. 89-22, §§ 2, 3, 12-19-89)